MOTOGP QUALIFYING AT VALENCIA
SIXTH ROW FOR THE APRILIA RS-GP MACHINES IN THE SPECIAL (RED) LIVERY
The Aprilia RS-GP bikes, once again in their red livery today to celebrate (RED), will start from the sixth row tomorrow for the Valencia GP that closes the curtain on the 2016 MotoGP season.
The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders dedicated the final free practice sessions to solving the grip problems highlighted in the Friday sessions. In the qualifying session, the one that decides the starting grid order tomorrow, Bautista had the right confidence, but then he slid out on turn five, just as he was putting in his best performance, interrupting his efforts for a spot farther forward on the grid. This means that he is forced to settle for the time he made in his first Q1 run (18th at 1’31.847) that places him on the sixth row.
Stefan Bradl did better with 1’31.813, overtaking his teammate by one spot on the grid, where he will start alongside him on the sixth row.
The Aprilia RS-GP stand out during the Valencia weekend with an entirely red livery, without any other sponsors or even the Aprilia logo, in order to celebrate (RED), the organization founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver that, with $360 million in assistance, has contributed to the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in African countries since 2006.
#iRideRED is the hashtag that all of the fans can share on social media in order to show their support for this cause.
ALVARO BAUTISTA
“In FP3 and FP4, we tried some different settings and in the end I felt good with them, lapping well in the low 32s and feeling confident with the bike. That is how I went into qualifying, but with the first tyre I felt a slight vibration that kept me from pushing too hard. With the second tyre I felt good straight away. I did a lap without pushing, just to warm up the tyres, and I was already on the same level as my best time. But when I started to push, I fell on turn five. A pity, because I could have even shaved off half a second. But I am still optimistic. I have a good pace and in the past we have already shown that we can make up a lot of positions in the race”.
STEFAN BRADL
“Today did not go extremely well. Despite trying a lot of changes in terms of balance, we were unable to entirely solve the difficulty in getting the bike to turn. This penalized us more than we had expected it to in qualifying, where we struggled and were unable to improve as much as the others did. On the other hand, our pace is not bad. We are able to be consistent even with used tyres, but today the flying lap just wasn’t there. I’m sure that we will be able to make up a few positions in the race”.
